Rayman VS Serena 2009 edition
by Cairnie Woof Woof
Summary: Rayman and co try to find out the reason why an ordinary girl was chosen to be an assassin out to kill him. For reassurance, I am the original author of the 2003 version of this.
1. The Nightmare

**Author's Note**

What you are reading is an updated, if not corrected version of my old Rayman story, Rayman VS Serena, which I originally finished in 2003. The original had an insane amount of grammar fail, and I've also tried to make it a bit more canonically correct than it was, though it still has fancharacters making it about as canon as Premier Clics. Enjoy anyway, this is my deprived imagination after all.

* * *

In a vast void of darkness, a voice was heard. "It's dark", it told in a sinister manner, "but there is light at the end. Follow it, limbless one, follow it!"

Rayman did as he was told. As he stepped closer to the light in hesitation, it grew larger and larger, until it suddenly enveloped him with a blinding flash. All remained dark again for a brief pause. Then, Rayman gradually opened his eyes. Before him was a stream of crystal clear water, flowing underneath a golden stone bridge that he had been lying down on. Beside it was a short marble pillar, where a butterfly stood atop. Rayman cast his sight skyward, and saw an early sunset painting the sky in yellow and pink.

He sat himself up, and quietly asked himself, "Where am I?"

He looked around, and somehow, this place reminded him of the Woods of Light. There was a waterfall, a small lake and plenty of flowers and fruit bearing trees, but there were no stones of thought, and he didn't recall marble pillars being there. Nonetheless, he decided to explore the area, but in haste, his foot slipped and he fell in the water.

Undeterred by how wet he was, he stood himself up and began to explore this familiar place. It was awfully quiet, except for the sound of a breeze coming down from the sky. Hardly any life apart from butterflies could be seen or heard, no birds, no other insects, nothing. Rayman was starting to get suspicious, but he soon came to realise that he was far from home – he was on a floating island high in the heavens.

Could this be… heaven? Rayman couldn't believe what he was seeing, neither did he want to. With nobody else around to tell him where he actually was, he could only assume that he was now dead on Earth. Despite being such a beautiful place to spend an eternal afterlife, he began to wonder if this was the heaven he had been told so many times about. He expected at least a few others to be there, but for now, he had to think harder. Would his friends eventually show up to join him when their lives end as well?

After a while, Rayman started to look around for the advantages of this place. He saw that there were trees bearing irresistible fruit, but he didn't want to eat. He was however, a little thirsty, and turned back to the lake to take a sip of the water – fresher than any water he had drunk on Earth. When he had finished, he leaned back on a tree and gazed into the sky as the sun kept on sinking into the clouds. He carried on thinking about how the world below would cope without him, and whether or not being here could be a reward for the good deeds he had done in his life. "Maybe some day", he whispered to himself, "we could all be together again".

Even more time passed, and Rayman grew tired. As night was beginning to break through, a cloud appeared beside the bridge, and slowly took the shape of a bed. Perhaps that would be where he could sleep for the night, it looked comfortable enough. So Rayman climbed on it, and was beginning to fall asleep. As he was about to close his eyes, he felt something fall on his nose. Somehow, it was starting to rain.

Suddenly, the sound of thunder boomed as if angels were banging on timpani, as the sky became engulfed in the darkest clouds anyone had ever seen. The rain fell harder, and suddenly, the cloud Rayman was about to sleep on disappeared, causing him to fall on top of the bridge, which had turned to cold, solid steel. Rayman scrambled underneath it to take cover from the rain, but in seconds, a flash of lightning bolt shot down and reduced it to nothing.

The flowers quickly withered and were washed away as the water in the stream became a torrent of black sludge. Gale force winds swooped down and blew the trees and bushed off course, like the dead of a ship being thrown overboard. Worst of all, the ground was breaking apart as if the place was struck by an earthquake, revealing a bottomless pit ending with lava. This was no longer heaven; in that short space of time it had become hell.

At the mere sight of the lava, Rayman grabbed hold of the last remaining tree that stood, as tightly as he could, and attempted to climb as far away from the pit as possible. But the wind grew stronger, and the tree was weakening so fast that it was bending over the pit. Rayman soldiered on with all his strength to get back on safe land, but the elements fought harder. Eventually, the tree snapped, and that, along with Rayman, plummeted into the lava. He could do no more for himself but to scream at the top of his voice.

As soon as he fell into the lava, a sudden shock struck him. He immediately opened his eyes – he was no longer high up in the heavens. He was in a dark room with just the light of a small lamp, but he wasn't alone. Globox and his wife Uglette were around him, as were a few of their children sitting on his lap, looking delighted to see him awake. "Oh Rayman, we're so glad you've finally come around", Uglette cried with glee.

So it was only a dream after all. Rayman never felt more relieved, but he had many questions to ask. "Where am I now", he asked, "and what happened?"

"Everyone heard you scream in the forest", Uglette began to explain, "but by the time we found you, you already hit the ground. You wouldn't wake up, until now. Ly should be coming very soon to give you red Lums."

She then left the room, to bring Rayman something to eat. As the Globox children huddled up to him, he tried hard to remember these events for himself, but somehow, he couldn't. Soon, Globox picked his babies off of the bed, as his wife presented Rayman with a bowl of vegetable soup and two slices of bread. Though he still didn't feel too hungry, he thanked her, and slowly ate. "Take your time," Globox said.

A short while later, Ly the fairy finally arrived, carrying lots of red Lums in her arms. She too was glad to see Rayman had woken up, and proceeded to harvest the energy from the little lights to his bruised body using her own magic. Rayman was soon feeling refreshed, and his wounds were fading. "There you go Rayman", Ly calmly said, "When you've finished eating, I'll take you home".

* * *

A few days had passed, and Rayman was now fully rested, and full of energy. He felt so much better, that he fancied a race through the meadows with none other than Ly. So, he proceeded to pay her a visit at her house in the Eastern Plains. Eventually he got there, rang the bell, and waited for her to emerge, but there was no reply. He tried again after a minute, but to no avail. She must have already gone, probably to meditate deep in the forest.

Slightly disappointed by her absence, Rayman set off to the village and visit some of his other friends.


	2. The Fight

**Author's Note**

Those who had ready the original story will remember that this chapter was originally set in Aeropolis. I had not seen the animated Rayman series at the time, and when I did, I felt that the city was far from the Glade of Dreams, so that change was made. Just letting you know.

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Fight**

Contrary to Rayman's inklings, Ly was far away from the deep reaches of the forest. Instead, she was assigned to help some Teensie merchants prepare their goods for the Glade community market. Now the Robo-Pirate Army was gone, life in the Glade of Dreams had returned to normal fast, and the merchants could now resume their trade. After the hard work she had done for them, Ly was relieved, and she could now wander around and admire the happiness that now graced the people. The smiles on the little ones tempted her to borrow some baby plums and juggle with them.

Suddenly, as Ly was strolling through the increasingly busy marketplace, something suddenly struck her body with great force and knocked her to the ground. Rubbing her head, she opened her eyes. In front of her was a female of Rayman's species, also rubbing her head. Ly was about to apologise, but the girl opened her mouth first. "Watch where you're going, you clumsy clout!" the girl roared with fire in her eyes.

It was clear that Ly didn't take this girl's comment too lightly, but she tried to remain calm. Instead of replying, she just stared back, but the girl wanted more than just that. "Are you giving it?" the girl snapped again, making it clear that she wanted to fight.

Ly stood up, annoyed by the girl's cocky comments, but she didn't want to retaliate. She thought that she should settle it with the kind apology she was about to make, but it seemed that the better solution was to walk away. This frustrated the girl even more, and eventually, she stormed right up to Ly and slapped her around the face.

All went quiet. Ly slowly stroked her face in shock. She couldn't decide on what to do next. But there was no stopping the girl, as the fierce stare she gave to Ly carried on. In seconds, she pounced onto Ly and made attempts to pin her to the ground. Now, Ly was ready to fight back, so she kicked the girl in the stomach and threw her off. She was about to create an energy sphere, but the girl simply pounced back onto her and proceeded to scratch, spit and wrestle with her.

The village folk around them watched in horror; they had never seen a well-reputed fairy engage in a brawl like this before. One Teensie ran off into the distance to seek a way to break it up. The girls were no longer aware that they were surrounded. Ly broke herself free from the wrestle, and finally managed to grow an energy sphere and shoot it at the limbless girl in succession. A smile of satisfaction raised on her face.

But the fight couldn't last for much longer. The Teensie that left the small crowd earlier had brought a fairy back with him – a fairy that was higher in the hierarchy than Ly was. Although she wore a bonnet with a pointy top that was large enough to cover most of her face, the disapproval in her face could not be hidden. "Ly, I am incredibly disappointed in you", she snapped, "Using your powers to attack a mortal, when you know full well that it is forbidden, unless such people were a threat to our planet".

Before Ly could explain her side of the story, the limbless girl's eyes turned to blood red. Enraged, she attempted to scratch the two fairies, by retracting what appeared to be claws from her fingertips. But the elder fairy was quick to cast a brief freezing spell on her. A few moments later, the girl fell to the ground and laid there powerless. The fight was declared over.

"I think I was mistaken", the elder fairy commented, "I'm sorry."

Thankful for being pardoned, Ly kept a close watch on the defeated limbless girl, who was gradually rising. The evil had somehow disappeared from her face, and she now felt humiliated by the situation. She was so humiliated in fact, that instead of apologising to the fairies, she fled the scene in a hurry. There was no point in calling for her to come back.

Ly was still shaken by the experience, for it had been along time since she had been attacked like this. She too wished to be alone for a short period, so the elder fairy and crowd agreed for her to depart. As she prepared to make her way to one of her favourite haunts deep in the forest, she heard somebody call from the distance.

"Ly, wait up!" It was Rayman, who had just caught sight of Ly's violet-blue bushy tail. Finally glad to find the young fairy, he took a mad dash to catch up with her. As he caught his breath, it didn't take him long to notice the scratches and bruises on Ly's face. Rayman couldn't help but feel alarmed. "Ly, what happened to you?" Rayman asked nervously, "Are you alright?"

Ly was glad to see Rayman as well, but in another way, she wondered what he was doing here. As far as she knew, he was still supposed to be resting. But she hung her head, upset by the fight. "I'll be OK," she sighed in an attempt to reassure her limbless friend, "Come with me to the forest, and I'll explain".

***

The day remained bright and hazy, as Rayman and Ly strolled through the forest. Rayman was growing tired as he walked; it turned out that he had not been resting for long enough. Now that they were in a quieter place, Ly was ready to tell her side of the story. "I was helping the Teensies set up their stalls in the market, when a girl bumped into me," she began.

"She was the same race as you, Rayman, but before I could even apologise, she got mouthy with me. I didn't want to fight, but she slapped me on the face."

Rayman's face was filling with disturbance. "Then, she tried to pin me down, and that was when I lost my patience, so I kicked her off of me. Before long, we were tearing each other apart. Then, one of the elder fairies came all the way from the Fairy Council to stop us, but before she could tell me off, that girl started attacking her! Finally, she ran away without warning."

"That's awful!" Rayman exclaimed, "And to think that a girl of my race would – wait a minute…you mean there is more of my race on this land than myself?"

"Maybe," Ly replied with a shrug, "But she was the only other limbless person I've ever seen."

"Then I'm not alone," Rayman whispered to himself.

There was a minute-long pause. Ly felt a rumbling sensation in her stomach. "I'm starting to get a hit hungry. Are you?" she asked her limbless friend.

Rayman shook his head slightly, and took a deep breath. It was only then Ly had noticed something unusual about his body – it was not as chubby as it used to be. "Rayman, you have been eating, haven't you?" she questioned him fairly sternly.

"A bit," Rayman answered, trying to impress her, but he sighed again, "I'm just tired from walking around so much, I don't really feel like racing you now. But I've been trying to have something to eat and drink, honest." A cheesy grin followed, but his face quickly reverted to the weary look he had.

"You did take quite a fall," she continued, "so you'll need to building up your strength, and be patient, just like when you came home after defeating Razorbeard."

Just a minute later, a familiar figure appeared behind their backs, and tapped Ly on the shoulder. It was the limbless girl that brawled with Ly earlier, but this time, she appeared to be extremely remorseful for what she had done. "I'm really sorry about what I did," she said apologetically, "I hope I'll never do it again." Immediately, she ran away before Ly could say anything.

But the pair moved on, and Rayman was getting more and more fatigued. By now, he wanted to go home. It was then that Ly had remembered something – one of the Teensie merchants had given her one of his specialities, a small plum jam doughnut, as a reward for her generous help in the market. When she withdrew it, she presented it to her limbless friend. "Come on, you'll have to eat something at some point", she said with encouragement, "besides, these are delicious."

Even though he didn't feel like eating, Rayman kindly accepted her offer, and gradually chewed on this tasty treat as the pair carried on walking. It was only when the sweet plum jam tricked into his mouth that it became a tantalising experience for him. But he didn't finish it, because something suddenly pounced on him. It was a young canine creature with fairy-like wings, and as she wagged her little tail, she turned her head around and asked excitedly, "Is this her?"

Shortly, a larger winged canine appeared, and shook his head. "No Amethyst, that's a boy," he said, turning to Rayman, "I'm sorry about this. My daughter's eyesight is very poor; in fact, I fear she may become blind one day.

"The poor thing," Rayman responded with sympathy while stroking the dog creature's puppy, "Cute little thing though, aren't you?"

Amethyst smiled with pride and wagged her tail harder. She was such a carefree creature, despite her eyesight problems.


End file.
